this evening, I sat by an open window
and read till the light was gone and the book
was no more than a part of the darkness.
I could easily have switched on a lamp,
but I wanted to ride the day down into night,
to sit alone, and smooth the unreadable page
with the pale gray ghost of my hand.

-Ted Kooser

[This poem reminds me of my dear friend, Melody, (happy birthday!) who is frequently reading, and writing, and dreaming of stories. She is a fantastic writer, in fact, you should read some of her work! You can find a lovely piece here.]

I made these cupcakes for a dear friend, who has a very limited diet. She eats gluten free, and mostly vegan [although eggs and yogurt are okay in small amounts]. These cupcakes are tailored for her. I found this recipe for cupcakes on Pinterest, but deviated from the original quite a bit. My version has a bit of yogurt, coffee, and sugar in it. Oh, and a nice big handful of chopped chocolate. [It was her birthday, after all].

This recipe made 9 cupcakes for me. The frosting will make much more than needed, so you can halve it or just make a lot more cupcakes. These cakes are a bit crumbly, so chill them before frosting [overnight is just fine].

And just a note, I *loved* these cupcakes with the frosting, but just liked them without. My kids and husband gobbled them up just fine, however, both ways.

Whisk together the almond meal, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Combine the eggs, vanilla, oil, yogurt, coffee, and sugar, and pour over the dry mixture. Mix well to form a smooth batter. Add the chopped chocolate and mix to combine.

Spoon the batter into into the prepared pan. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until a tooth pick comes out almost clean [just the tiniest crumb]. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove and finish cooling on a wire rack.

Peanut Butter Frosting

adapted from Joy of Cooking

This recipe calls for soy milk, but rice or almond milk will work just as well. You can omit the Bourbon if desired.

Beat peanut butter, Tofutti, margarine, vanilla, soy milk and bourbon until just blended. Add powdered sugar slowly and beat on medium high until smooth. If the frosting is too thick, add more soy milk until desired consistency is reached.

I’ve never had much success with flourless cupcakes made exclusively from almond meal so I’m definitely going to have to try these and obviously I’m a sucker for the peanut butter frosting. Such lovely pictures too – I completely agree with Laura’s sentiments.

These would be perfect for my gluten free friend although I’m pretty sure everyone would love them and noone would even know they were allergy friendly! They look wonderful – wish I could reach into my screen and grab one.

I’m going to make these muffins on sunday! I have some mushy bananas, so maybe I will sub the banana for the yogurt and see how that goes. Now I just have to figure out where to hide them for myself so Hugh doesn’t eat them. So beautiful, my friend.